Category Archives: Podcasts

Talking About Technology and Tweens and Teens

If you have a kid who is going to be using technology this year, you want to listen to this podcast. We are talking about technology and tweens and teens as well as some of the pitfalls and pluses you can expect.

Need parenting tips for talking to your tweens or teens about technology? Get advice about kids and digital citizenship | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Some things we include in this podcast:

  • Erin talks about her past as a social media Luddite and tells a little about the path that led her to become a reformed technology convert.
  • How group chats are like the Wild West of the internet
  • The potential trap of creating a technology contract
  • Things to say when you give your child their first piece of personal technology
  • How to use filtering software as training wheels for technology

We also want to put resources right here in your hands right NOW so you can pin or bookmark them for whenever you might need them.

Some posts we have written about technology and kids:

How to Manage Your Child’s Mobile Phone Use

Managing Your Child’s Social Media is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

Tips for Handling Social Media and Your Kids

Give the Gift of Digital Citizenship

We are adding the following guides because THESE sites are where your kids hang out online. Follow the guides to educate yourself and make a plan with your kid about how your family will treat technology.

Parents Guide to Facebook

Parents Guide to Ask.fm

Parents Guide to Snapchat

Parents Guide to Instagram

Need parenting tips for talking to your tweens or teens about technology? Get advice about kids and digital citizenship | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms Parents Guide to Youtube

Parents Guide to Twitter

Parents Guide to Vine 

Good luck! Erin and Ellen

You can follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Check out our books, “I Just Want to Be Alone” and “You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth.”


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Talking Politics with Friends



Talking Politics with Friends: The art of talking policies, plans, and ideologies seems to be on life support. It doesn't have to be that way. | Life experience | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

In this election year, the art of talking politics, policies, plans, and ideologies seems to be on life support. Name-calling and mudslinging are the opening volleys to “discussions” that are frequently ended with broad brushstrokes like “All Republicans/Democrats are insert-your-go-to-insult-here.”

Why are opposing opinions met with such venom? Take a moment to think about it. We mean really think about the end game. Do we want everyone to agree with us? There can’t be checks and balances if everyone is kumbaya-ing, and that can lead to some scary ideas breeding and gaining momentum.

Would it surprise you that we align along different party lines? That we have discussions and disagreements, yet we still run a business together and maintain a friendship? We’re going to guess, or at least hope, you’re not that surprised at all. We know sensible discussions have to be taking place around the kitchen tables and fire pits of America far away from the click bait media headlines and sensational commercials.

So which parties are printed on Erin and Ellen’s voter registration cards? You’ll have to click over to the podcast because we gathered around the microphone to have our own conversation.

What else do we discuss?

Happy listening! But beyond listening, we welcome your opinions. We have started a Facebook Group so that you can not only hear our conversations, but be a part of them. Click here to join.

-Ellen and Erin

Find us on iTunes! Listen to us on Android! We like the Podcast Addict App. Or click here to see a catalog of all of our episodes! Follow our podcast board on Pinterest where we pin our episodes!

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The Holidays are Coming! (And We’re Freaking Out!)

The holidays are coming and while we love them, they come with a fair amount of stress. If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this post is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Do you feel like the holidays are one raging whitewater current sweeping you up in October and dumping you onto the barren shore just south of New Year’s Eve? Or is it north of? Either way . . .

US TOO!

Picture us yelling that at you with a Charlie Brown style force sufficient to send you somersaulting backwards. Which reminds us, we need to dig out our copies of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Pronto. Oh wait, that’s what Netflix is for. Look at us, we just wiped one thing off of our to-do lists.

Anyway, what we really want to convey is that while we loooooovvve the holidays, they can be a bit overwhelming. And we’re thinking we aren’t alone. Doesn’t everyone’s festivities land somewhere between any Hallmark movie ever and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?

So we’re here to commiserate with you and cheer you on. And (don’t kill us) add one more thing to your to-do list: Read Jen Mann’s witty book “Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Yuletide Yahoos, Ho-Ho-Humblebraggers, and Other Seasonal Scourges.” If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this book is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The holidays are coming and while we love them, they come with a fair amount of stress. If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this post is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

We tell you all about it in this podcast (player is at the bottom of the post). In fact this book served as a launching pad for recounting our own holiday stories of hijinx.

We’ll tell you about

  • The year Thanksgiving dinner came out of a blender.
  • Why “BOOM GOES THE TURKEY LEG” is Erin’s personal battle cry.
  • The Pilgrimages to Poland for mechanical Santas. (You can SEE what we are talking about here.)
  • The year Ellen buzzed through Christmas on her Jazzy.
  • And finally, the miracle that will whittle down your outside decorating efforts to locating one extension cord: Star Shower Laser Lights. Ellen gives you the highlights in the podcast, but since we know you will want one, you can get your own here on Amazon. See how it shows up even on Ellen’s brick house? Amazing. You can use the green setting during Halloween and the red and green setting for Christmas.

Need to simplify your holiday decorations? Star Shower is the answer for Halloween through Christmas. - Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

 

If you have a hankering for our full buffet of holiday fare, behold.

Halloween

The holidays are coming and while we love them, they come with a fair amount of stress. If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this post is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Crazy Milkmaid

Thanksgiving

The holidays are coming and while we love them, they come with a fair amount of stress. If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this post is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Christmas

The holidays are coming and while we love them, they come with a fair amount of stress. If you need your holiday sweetness tempered with reality, peppered with cleverness, and wrapped up in a burrito of hilarity, this post is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

So Proud

And finally we bid you happy listening with this final bit of holiday advice:

Just try not to wig out on your family.

-Ellen and Erin

Find us on iTunes!

Listen to us on Android! We like the Podcast Addict App.

Or click here to see a catalog of all of our episodes!

Follow our podcast board on Pinterest where we pin our episodes!

Click the player below!

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Mary’s Story: I Did Not Wait for Breast Cancer to Strike

"I Did Not Wait for Breast Cancer to Strike." Mary's mother died from breast cancer, and she subsequently tested positive for the BRCA gene. By getting a prophylactic mastectomies she did not wait for breast cancer to strike. This is an important story of health, wellness, and breast cancer awareness. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

More than once, people have misunderstood the title of our blog. They think “Sisterhood” means we’re sisters. We are not . . . in the biological sense. Erin actually has a lovely younger sister and Ellen is an only child (we know, it explains a lot). We are firm believers in the cross stitch sampler sentiment “friends are family you choose.” That’s our Sisterhood: all of the women who are integral to the beauty and richness of our lives.

And one of those women, our dear friend, Mary, has a gripping story to tell. Her mother died from breast cancer when she was a freshman in college. She subsequently tested positive for the “breast cancer gene” BRCA, which means she had a 80% risk of developing breast cancer. We have always wanted to write her story of prophylactic treatment, but never wanted to put words in her mouth. With this podcast, you get to hear the words (and laughter and wit) right out of her mouth. Please, click the player at the bottom to.

Mary's Story: "I Did Not Wait for Breast Cancer to Strike." Mary's mother died from breast cancer, and she subsequently tested positive for the BRCA gene. By getting a prophylactic mastectomies she did not wait for breast cancer to strike. This is an important story of health, wellness, and breast cancer awareness. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Some information to remember and links from the podcast:

  • About 10% of all breast cancers are hereditary. Mary was at high risk for hereditary breast cancer because she tested positive for the BRCA gene.
  • For those who test positive for the BRCA gene, Mary recommended this resource: FORCE–Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered.
  • Mammogram guidelines mentioned are those from The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist. You can read more about them here.
  • Ellen strongly believes that where you get your mammogram is very crucial. Read her post How to Pick Where to Go for a Mammogram.

An additional resource:

  • You can download an app to help you make an early detection plan with reminders for mammograms. Read more about it here.

Please share this important story and remember to schedule your own mammogram.

Bracelet of Hope - Breast Cancer Awareness Month - "I Did Not Wait for Breast Cancer to Strike." Mary's mother died from breast cancer, and she subsequently tested positive for the BRCA gene. By getting a prophylactic mastectomies she did not wait for breast cancer to strike. This is an important story of health, wellness, and breast cancer awareness. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Subscribe on iTunes or Android to never miss a Soundbite!!

-Ellen and Erin . . . and Mary

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How to Talk to Your Kids About Dating

Great teen parenting guide with tips for How to Talk to Your Kids about Dating | Parenting Advice | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

If you are buying pretty dresses and swanky ties for Homecoming, shuttling kids to Varsity sports practices, or handing over those car keys for good, then it’s time for the talk. No, not the sex talk, although we do have some great ideas about how to have that talk too. Now is the perfect time to talk to your kids about dating.

Now don’t scream and cry and cue up a montage of baby pictures on your computer. This is not gonna hurt. Just hit the play button at the bottom of this post.

We’ve got your back, but more importantly, we’ve got stories from the front lines. We’ll define the new parameters of dating for you and confess some of our own mistakes including a lovely anecdote about how Erin was punked by her own earnestness.

We know it seems scary, but you can do this. And for being so brave and bold, we are offering a little pre-podcast gift: the Dymowski rules for conversation. Ellen said you all would like it.

Rules for effective conversation to resolve conflict. Helpful teen parenting guide with tips for How to Talk to Your Kids about Dating | Parenting Advice | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Check it out, print it out, and imprint it into your long-term memory. But. most importantly, don’t forget to click the podcast to hear how to talk to your kids about dating.

Good luck! Happy talking! 

[Further reading: Teens and Romantic Relationships: A Positive Spin.]

Erin and Ellen

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Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family

Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family: From how to rock the crockpot and carpool, to organizational apps and tricks, these tips will siphon the crazy out of your week.  | Parenting Advice and Time Management | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Well, it’s official—autumn is here. Although fall is just as likely to punk us as shower us with pumpkin spice everything, we still love it or, at the very least, have to live through it. Sure, jam-packed schedules, rushed meals on the fly, and school’s many demands threaten to take us down, but we have learned a thing or two.

Step 1: Mutter under your breath, “This too shall pass.”

Step 2: Repeat Step 1 often.

Step 3:  Rock the life hacks that keep our families afloat instead of drowning in the carpool.

Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family: Mom Taxi Command Central. | Parenting Humor | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Click the image to enlarge.

To hear the conversation–or maybe brain dump is a better descriptionwhere we lay it all out for you, just click the player at the bottom to hear our latest podcast. We give up the goods about all the tricks and practices that make our lives work.

Now we mention some really great stuff in this podcast, and since we’re nothing if not helpful, we’re hooking you up with a bevy of links. But you should consider these links the breadcrumbs to lead you back to where you really want to be: listening to our podcast. That’s where it ALL is.

1) We wax awfully poetic about our love for crockpots in this podcast. Two of our favorite crockpot recipes are Apricot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin and French Country Chicken. We get really excited about these, so seriously, go check them out. Now, we don’t mention these other recipes specifically, but we have a whole slew of yummy crockpot meals so if you want more, have at it. We highly recommend it.

Apricot Cranberry Crockpot Pork Tenderloin recipe. Part of our Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family |Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

2) We also mention a favorite recipe planning book that we both use.
Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites: More Great Recipes That Save You Time and Money from the Inventors of the Ultimate Do-Ahead Dinnertime Method
Shwoo, that’s a mouthful. Just click on this Amazon link and buy it now. Yes, we get a teeny tiny compensation, but we promise to throw that penny in a fountain and wish happy thoughts for you. If you don’t end up loving or using this book as much as we both do, re-gift it to your sister-in-law. She’s awesome and busier than you anyway. She’ll think you’re a genius for thinking of it.

But you’re probably going to want to keep your copy and buy your sister-in-law a new one because we have a Sisterhood Secret for you right here. In an unusual turn of events, Ellen took organization to a new level and created a coordinated menu of eight of the recipes with a complete shopping list for them all. Yeah.

Once a Month Cooking Eight Recipe Meal Plan with Shopping List. Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Once-a-Month Cooking Eight Recipe Plan. Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family. Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Click for a fully printable PDF: Once-a-Month Cooking 8 Recipe Menu Plan.

3) We also introduce you to this great gal named Alisa who blogs at Mondays are Forever because she introduced Ellen to the Keep app from Google, our newest tech crush. We might get a little excited talking about this in the podcast. Bringing everything full circle, you can input the menu shopping list mentioned above, and just use it over and over again. Worth checking out, no?

And if you need more of a teaser, we share the do’s and don’ts of carpooling, the school supplies we ALWAYS have in our stash, and a little more about how we juggle all of the balls and why we do it.

Life Hacks for Managing Your Busy Family: Homework on the fly. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Homework on the fly.

Intrigued? Interested? Desperate to hear a little something funny with a side of sensible?

Well, click that player at the bottom and hear our podcast.

Want to know even more about how we do what we do? Check out Pulling Back the Curtain.

Thanks for listening!

Erin and Ellen

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You can follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Check out our books, “I Just Want to Be Alone” and “You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth.”

 

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Parenting Through the Threat of School Violence

So anybody who has been a parent more than fifteen seconds knows our little secret . . . parenting is really hard sometimes. Today’s modern landscape of social media combined with the threat of school violence makes it even more so.

How do you parent through school violence? Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

 

The conversation is pretty serious this week as we discuss Erin’s attempt to parent through an actual threat of school violence. The conversation is an important one not just for the two of us, but for all of us as parents in this brave new world.

Please listen to our two differing views on the topic, then please feel free to join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

In the interest of full disclosure: everyone is fine and nobody was harmed, but it is an incident that plays out often in our country, so we thought it was worthy of a soundbite.

Just click the podcast at the bottom of the post! Thanks again for listening!

-Erin and Ellen

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Check out our books, “I Just Want to Be Alone” and “You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth.”

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Breaking Down the Capsule Wardrobe Craze

Breaking Down the Capsule Wardrobe Craze - Brilliant idea or one step away from a prison uniform? Can you get your wardrobe down to 37 pieces? |Fashion| Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Are you hiding in your closet? Or are you hiding from your closet? Might be time for a radical change with a dramatically simplified wardrobe. Simple is good, right? Keep saying it and you might believe it. Ellen isn’t quite buying it yet either.

So what is this capsule wardrobe you ask? It’s basically just the latest catch phrase for cleaning out and paring down. It’s been around for a while, but we first read about it on Dallas Moms Blog.

Caroline of the blog Unfancy describes it as “a mini-wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you totally LOVE to wear.” She recommends maintaining a 37 piece wardrobe: 15 tops, 9 bottoms, 9 pairs of shoes, 2 dresses, and 2 jackets.

Wh-wh-WHAT?!!!

Addendum: As our friend pointed out, this is 37 pieces per season. But still.

Ellen might have a long way to go. Her closet looks like this:

Breaking Down the Capsule Wardrobe Craze - Can you get your wardrobe down to 37 elements? | Fashion | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Even after she took out this much stuff:

Breaking Down the Capsule Wardrobe Craze - Can you get your wardrobe down to 37 elements? | Fashion | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Erin might actually be most of the way there:

This closet isn't too small. It's just right for the closet capsule craze. Read (and hear more) from Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

But we know it can be done! We have a friend who has actually succeeded at this. Read all about how Binkies and Briefcases did it here.

And now listen to what we have to say about it in our latest podcast. Just click the player at the bottom of the post!

 

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You can follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Check out our books, “I Just Want to Be Alone” and “You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth.”

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Is Feminist a Dirty Word?

Is Feminist a Dirty Word? In the very least it is a word that evokes a passionate response. | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Well, it’s at least worthy of airbrushing an eighth grade class photo to remove it from a girl’s t-shirt. That’s right, out of all the logos and all the words on the kids’ clothing, “Feminist” was removed because it might be deemed as offensive.

Fox 2 News Headlines

Do you think this is just Midwest craziness? We’re pretty sure it’s not. Feminist does not mean what you think it means, or at least it doesn’t in many minds.

The true definition of a feminist from Webster’s Dictionary:

A person who supports the social, political, legal, and economic equality of the sexes.

Who wouldn’t want to identify with that??

Well, the truth is the meaning of feminist has become layered and muddled and transformed by all the minds and mouths who have handled it since the late 1800s. One thing, for sure, it hasn’t lost any of its punch.

When Erin asked her Dymowski roundtable–her husband, four sons, and one daughter–if they thought feminism had a negative or positive connotation, the answers were so passionate that she posed the same question to our Facebook page.

Those answers were so varied and passionate, we knew we had to talk about it.

The principal who chose to wipe “Feminist” from the picture is being pressured to open the topic to the student body for further discussion. Oh, we got her discussion. Hear what we have to say by clicking the podcasting soundbar below.

-Ellen and Erin

You can follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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